Jim Jefferies: Alcoholocaust Review

• 3rd Nov 2010

You only need know that Jim Jefferies got his big break when a clip of the Aussie comic being attacked onstage by a furious punter went viral to have an idea of where his material lies on the offensiveness spectrum. Even by today’s standards, Jefferies is a particularly outrageous performer.

The title of this show itself hints at the authors impressive beer intake throughout the night (as in, impressive that he’s still standing by the end; cheers come from the crowd each time he produces a fresh pint) as he rambles through material that more than flirts with bad taste. Often he’s close to the line, often he’s well over it. The themes are well-trod by the shock-oriented comic: sex, defecation, racism, though delivered through partially-observational ramblings as opposed to the caustic one-liners favoured by fellow offenders Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr.

The most impressive part of the show is the long anecdote Jefferies ends with about a seriously disabled friend of his. It’s touching without being patronising and hysterically funny without seeming disrespectful, an excellent contrast to the brashness of the rest of his act which allows the comic to show his considerable talent for storytelling.

There’s an occasional awareness of the close-to-the-boneness of his riskiest material (“what I like about that joke is, you know its racist but you can’t pinpoint the exact moment”) coupled with his self-deprecating demeanour, that gives Jefferies enough charm to pull it all off. Indeed, he’s much more likeable than the aforementioned other comics because he doesn’t erect a wall of distancing irony between himself and the audience. He comes across as exactly what he is: a cheeky, working-class Aussie who likes a drink, which is an agreeable enough shtick to have.

Adam Richardson